Charles Arthur "Papa" Nordell

Good morning!

I've been trying to get this out since Friday but it's been difficult, both physically and emotionally.

Thursday night at 10:15 we received a call from Ron's brother, Ken, informing us their dad (Papa) had been found unresponsive with very low oxygen rate and was being taken by ambulance to Baylor All-Saints. We headed there immediately...such pros at this that we beat the ambulance there!

It was evident Papa was in very bad shape. Unfortunately, his DNR paperwork had not been sent with him and they immediately intubated him and put an external pacemaker on him. After an hour and a half, we were informed the doctor wanted to meet with us in the family conference room. Fortunately, Ken, Shar, Laurie and Tony all arrived just as the doctor was coming to meet with us.

We were told Papa was heavily sedated to keep him from fighting the ventilator, as well as all of the other treatments taking place. He had pneumonia, he was not able to maintain an adequate heart rate and/or blood pressure without the intervention of meds and he looked to be in septic shock. They were also doing a CT scan to see if he had a stroke or a brain bleed of some sort. The doctor was informed he had DNR paperwork in effect. Being that he was on full life support, his wishes had definitely been violated.

We contacted Kathie and Leonard and were all in agreement this is NOT what Papa would want. We chose to keep him on life support until family could arrive. Once he was settled in CardioVascular ICU we headed home (4:30 AM) to get a couple hours of sleep.

Ken & Shar arrived early enough to meet with the doctor who informed them he was definitely in septic shock as well as acute renal failure on top of the other issues, however he had been taken off the pacemaker before transporting to CVICU and his heart had been maintaining on it's own throughout the night. They did begin to wean him off of sedation and he was aware and responsive to questions...squeezing hands and nodding to yes/no questions. Ryan arrived and was able to communicate with him as well. The rest of the family was scheduled to arrive around 9:30.

At 8:45, we received a call from Ryan telling us Papa had gone into complete heart failure.

Typical of Papa, he determined to do things his way and continued to have automatic reflexive breathing (even though there was no heart or brain activity!). What a blessing for the family to arrive and see Papa as though he were sleeping, complete with snoring. He drew his last breath at 10:45. There was no pain, no prolonged suffering...he peacefully went to sleep, surrounded by his loved ones. We were so thankful he went this way, without us having to take him off life support; what a comfort to us.

We all went together to talk to Mom (Grandma). We weren't sure how she would respond but she did very well considering. She was a little confused at first, thinking we were talking about her Dad (she has dementia) but after going over things again, she understood.

The siblings and spouses met at the funeral home Saturday morning and had a very easy (although very lengthy!) time making arrangements for Papa. Everyone was in agreement as to what Papa would have wanted. What a privilege to go through Papa's Bible and choose some things that were obviously meaningful to him. He was a man of few words; however he was consistent in his thoughts and beliefs whether they were popular or not!

We then took the opportunity while everyone was around to clear out Papa's room and disperse his belongings.

Papa could be a stubborn old coot, but his family was EVERYTHING to him and he leaves behind a wonderful legacy, as well as a very large family. He dubbed his family the CAN (Charles Arthur Nordell) clan!

wife, Ruth...they would have celebrated their 65th anniversary August 1.

first born:
Kathie, husband: Terry, of Whitehouse and children:
Jason, wife: Christie, children: Max & Taylor of Abilene
Josh of Tyler
Kristin, husband: John, kids: Kayla and Carson of Houston
Michael, wife: Rachael, daughter: Esther in transit to mission work in Brazil

Ken, wife: Shar; of Jacksboro and daughter:
Nikki of Lubbock

Leonard, wife: Nancy of El Paso and children:
Davis, wife: Ashley of Albuquerque
Lianna, husband: Blake of Tucson

Laurie, husband, Tony of Mesquite and children:
Jeremy, wife: Julie, children: Jonah, Hudson and Malorie Kate of Austin
Whitney, husband: Jorden of McKinney
Zach of Austin

and the baby:
Ron, wife: Christie of North Richland Hills and children:
Ryan, wife Stacee and daughters: Mila and Ella of Fort Worth
Aaron of Addison

Siblings (Papa was the second oldest of 5):

Louise, husband, Gordon (Louise passed away this same afternoon after a lengthy illness)
Mildred, husband, Glen
Yvonne
Dean, wife: Char

Couple of things found in Papa's Bible:

"Let all things be done decently and in order"
I Corinthians 14:40
This verse fits Papa perfectly!

Papa had written this in his Bible:
Christian:
CHRIST- is all
I- I
A-am
N-nothing

We love you Papa! You are greatly missed!

We Will Remember!!!



FORT WORTH -- Charles Arthur Nordell, 90, passed away on Friday, July 16, 2010.
Service: 10:15 a.m. Wednesday in Dallas-Fort Worth National Cemetery. Visitation: 1 to 3 p.m. Tuesday at Laurel Land Funeral Home of Fort Worth.

Chuck was born Dec. 4, 1919, in Greeley, Colo., to Arthur and Irene Nordell. He married Ruth Love on Aug. 1, 1945, in New Jersey. He served as a Major in the U.S. Army during World War II. He retired as a Civil Engineer with Texaco.

Survivors: He is survived by his loving wife of 64 years, Ruth Nordell; children, Kathie Koch and husband, Terry, Ken Nordell and wife, Shar, Leonard Nordell and wife, Nancy, Laurie Apel and husband, Tony, Ron Nordell and wife, Christie; 20 grandchildren and spouses; 10 great-grandchildren; one brother; and three sisters.